Posts tagged “Tea”

WHATEVER IT IS, THE WHOLE TOWN HAS IT. THE COUGH, THE GUNK, THE GRUMP. IT GOES AWAY, THEN, WITH THE NEXT PLAY DATE, IT COMES BACK. HERE’S HOW WE GET IT TO GO WHEN IT DOES. It’s our old family recipe from way back when – I come from generations & generations of healers on both sides. I didn’t get that gene, but somehow I managed to marry one. This tea is hard core. Spicy, super sweet, super lemony, filled with blood cleaners, liver de-toxers, cell wishers. Well, maybe not cell-swishers. But we use it for everything from the shakes to strep throat to the cramps. A couple of cousins use it for hangovers (ahem). Local ingredients carry all kinds of crazy…

THERE IS AN UNSPOKEN CHORUS I SEEM TO GET LOST IN WHEN WINTER ROLLS MY WAY – THE SUN WILL NOT RETURN TO US. IT’S A LIE OF COURSE, UNRAVELING DAY AFTER DAY AS THE WARMTH SPREADS THROUGH MY MORNING WINDOW. His light is a far off promise of some other age – but when the cold air pools and settles, I believe the lie fully and completely. Yet the ground beneath our feet knows sacred Truth and offers us a chance to craft our own warmth with her offerings. “Ginger root, love,” she tells us. Grandmother Ginger stirs the cauldron, tending the fire that reaches our bones, spreading her warmth over us. Full of minerals like copper, potassium and magnesium, ginger root…

The Sun hides Himself behind mystery’s mist for a long time up here. It’s cold and damp to say the least and my heart and bones need some serious spice, red-hot heat, a warming from the inside out. I’m not talking about just sitting in front of the fireplace, I’m talking about manifesting a type of inner sunshine, creative bonfire so the soul doesn’t dampen. All along the 4th corner coast, the Natives do ceremonies and rituals to bring on the Sun from Within. Me, being a witch, I craft potions. Here is a favorite to turn up the heart heat. I take it every day, with a prayer to the Sun to be present in my life internally. INFUSE THE FOLLOWING IN…

The altar cloth is laid out, incense spirals through the air as I prepare to concoct a custom tea inspired by the magic of autumn. This time of year is full of visual turning points. The golden gates of summer have closed, leaving behind dusky skies filled with ashy smoke from the wood burning stoves. Crisp leaves fall at our feet bearing the skeletal limbs of the aspen trees. As I pull leaves roots, flowers and seeds from the apothecary cupboard I pause and listen to what plants speak to me. Their vibrations become the audible chants of the Deva spirits. I settle into a meditative rhythm as I begin to stir the herbs deosil, direction of the sun. Inspired by Mother Nature’s pageantry…